Patna: Here’s a piece of good news for party lovers. Although people across the globe celebrate New Year on January 1, this auspicious day comes several times in a year as there are about 100 calendars across the world which people still follow. And out of this, 50 exist in India. A list of the prominent calendars followed by the people.

Gregorian calendar

The New Year celebration on January 1 is based on the Gregorian calendar. Its origin can be traced to Roman calendar. The traditional Roman calendar starts from March 1. Roman King Julius Caesar added the month of July in it. Later August was also added in the memory of his nephew.

The calendar which is followed worldwide now-a-days was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in1582. Gregory had made a provision of Leap Year in it.

However Eastern Orthodox, another sect of Christian, does not recognize the Gregorian calendar. It still believes in traditional Roman calendar. As per the calendar, the New Year is celebrated on January 14. It is followed in countries like Russia, Jerusalem, Serbia and Georgia.

Islamic Calendar

According to Islamic calendar, also known as the Hijri calendar, New Year is celebrated on the very first day of the month of Muḥarram. The 10th day of Muharram is known as the Ashura. Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussain was martyred at Karbala near Baghdad on the same day.

Hijri calendar was prepared before the battle of Karbala. Significantly, the days have not been accommodated on the basis of variation of the moon’s motion. Therefore Islamic month fluctuates by 10 days each year.

Chinese Calendar

China has its own calendar. Here, New Year is celebrated with the first appearance of the year’s new moon. It is called Yuan Ten. It falls between January, 21and February, 21.

The Chinese years have been named after 12 animals. The same criteria has been followed in Chinese astrology.